Posted on January 14, 2026 in DEIA Resource Lists, Featured Reviews
Authors:
Fatima Mohie-Eldin
With Martin Luther King Jr. Day just around the corner, it’s an ideal time to deepen our knowledge of this renowned figure of the Civil Rights Movement, his contemporaries, and the movement at large, beyond what is taught in school. Below, the Toward Inclusive Excellence team has compiled a collection of reviews of notable racial justice titles published over the past several years and featured in Choice. These volumes highlight both towering figures of historical importance, such as Dr. King himself, and lesser-known activists who deserve the same attention and praise for their efforts to champion equal rights for all. Each review provides a well-rounded assessment that will push readers to think more deeply about these topics. Given current efforts to erase or rewrite elements of this nation’s history, it is especially important to seek out such accounts, especially those of lesser-known figures who have likely contributed more to our freedoms than we realize.
Mark Christian assesses Jonathan Eig’s 2023 biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. in this poignant review. Although the book was critically lauded by many others, Christian delineates several ways in which the book’s treatment of Dr. King is, in actuality, problematic. This astute analysis pushes readers to think more critically about popular and other mainstream portrayals of Dr. King (as well as other civil rights leaders), which tend to obscure the most radical elements of civil rights activism in favor of more watered-down, sanitized portrayals that are more palatable to audiences who are often further removed from the realities of racial injustice. Additionally, Christian notes that while Eig attempts to “humanize” Dr. King by revealing certain private moments, his biography avoids addressing the most contentious and unresolved element of Dr. King’s life: his assassination. This review is well worth reading in order to challenge your own assumptions about how you perceive Dr. King as an activist, a man, and an American.
Kate Clifford Larson’s account of Fannie Lou Hamer joins a slate of notable biographies on the indomitable civil rights leader, of which there can never be too many, as Philip Rubio notes in his review of the book. Rubio lauds Larson’s ability to bring Hamer to life by connecting her oratory skills and her tenacity to her powerful singing voice, while simultaneously detailing the landscape of civil rights organizing in Mississippi during the 1960s and 1970s. Rubio acknowledges that for many years, Hamer was known mainly for her captivating speech at the 1964 Democratic National Convention and little else, which is why Larson’s biography is so important, detailing Hamer’s exhaustive voter registration efforts, among many other civil rights campaigns, including supporting cotton pickers’ strikes, feminist groups, and school integration. Given the breadth of her grassroots work and the depth of her resolve, it is no wonder that she galvanized countless Americans to fight for their rights. This review offers readers a helpful overview of Fannie Lou Hamer’s life and work, and will likely inspire many to read the full biography.
In this review, Duncan Jamieson breaks down Raymond Arsenault’s 2024 biography of John Lewis and considers how the volume expertly captures the intricacies of Lewis’s life and civil rights journey without blindly lionizing him. This volume in particular focuses on Lewis’s lifelong endeavor to “bring the Beloved Community closer to fruition,” a concept Jamieson notes was first conceived of by Josiah Royce (1865–1916) as a society in which people of all backgrounds are bound together by their dedication to equal opportunity for all. Through the course of his review, Jamieson acknowledges Arsenault’s efforts to underscore the significance of religion and the Social Gospel to Lewis, illustrated through touching stories of Lewis’s deep empathy and commitment to nonviolence. Jamieson even shares his own anecdote about meeting and interviewing John Lewis in person, which is sure to intrigue readers.
This important biography of Shirley Chisholm not only details her political career from the 1960s through the 1980s, but also “doubles as a primer on the American political system,” as reviewer Duncan Jamieson writes. Readers will likely be familiar with Chisholm as the first Black woman elected to the House of Representatives in 1968, and author Anastasia Curwood details her time in office to great effect, including the racism and misogyny she faced, as well as her efforts to reach across the aisle and build coalitions. Given the current polarizing political climate in the United States, there is much to be learned from Chisholm’s example, particularly considering her progressive politics, which included opposing the Vietnam War, supporting the feminist movement, and associating with the Black Panthers.
In this review of David A. Varel’s 2020 biography of lesser-known civil rights luminary and mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr., Lawrence Reddick, Jr., Mark Christian praises the comprehensive detail in this much-needed account. Readers may be surprised to learn that Reddick even wrote the first-ever biography of Dr. King, entitled Crusader without Violence (1959), as it’s often overlooked by mainstream institutions and not widely referenced. As Christian contends in his review, Reddick is long overdue for such a thorough treatment of his life and work as “a colossal scholar-activist” who fought for self-determination, supported Pan-Africanism, and paved the way for many of the civil rights leaders who followed him. Reddick suffered many professional consequences for his activism throughout his life, and it is likely for the same reason that he has often been overlooked in histories of the Civil Rights Movement. And yet, as Christian notes, “so much of Reddick’s life resonates with what US society is facing in the 2020s,” making this an essential read for Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Amy Yeboah Quarkume expertly encapsulates the main thrust of The Movement in her review, writing that it “envisions a more complete Civil Rights Movement, one that reveals exactly what was at stake for Black Americans at the micro and macro levels of the time in their quest for equality.” The book is Thomas C. Holt’s attempt to bring into historical focus many aspects and individuals of the Civil Rights Movement who are often overlooked, especially many Black women who have received less attention than their male counterparts. As Quarkume writes, Holt achieves this by highlighting “countless laypeople and martyrs” who undertook “many mini revolutions against racism” because they “could no longer bear the systematic persecution,” including Holt’s own grandmother. He also weaves together historical events, such as Rosa Parks refusing to give up her bus seat and Emmett Till’s murder, which are usually considered in isolation, in order to underscore the rising tide of pushback to white supremacy that eventually gave way to the Civil Rights Movement. The end result is a narrative that is both accessible and absorbing. Nothing could be more relevant for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Header image is a detail of This is Harlem by Jacob Lawrence. Courtesy of Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. © 2021 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. For more information, click here.
Howard Bryant details Paul Robeson's and Jackie Robinson's lives, tracing how they occasionally intersected and overlapped through civil rights history and Red Scare politics.
Posted on in Featured Reviews
As Jeanne Theoharis shows, in their fight for civil rights, Martin and Coretta Scott King underscored how American cities outside the South upheld segregation in more insidious ways.
Posted on in Featured Reviews
Melissa Burch unravels the web of intersecting interests that work against successful reentry for the formerly incarcerated in employment.
Posted on in Featured Reviews
Caleb Gayle recounts McCabe's life story and quest for Black self-determination, while charting American history alongside it.
Posted on in Featured Reviews